'Stranger Things' season 2 release date, plot news: Will struggles, Joyce gets a love interest

"Stranger Things" season 2 premieres this Halloween on NetflixFacebook/strangerthingsTV

"Stranger Things" premiered in July of last year to favorable reviews and later went on to win various awards. In the new season, the Byers family will continue to go through last year's highs and lows.

The release date has been set for Season 2 of "Stranger Things" later this year, just in time for the holiday festivities. According to Entertainment Weekly, the story will pick up a year after the events in the first installment on Halloween, as evidenced by the trailer where the four young friends and protagonists are wearing "Ghostbusters" uniforms at school.

Co-creator Matt Duffer shared that Will Byers (Noah Schnapp) will be having a tough time this season after having coughed up a slug in last season's finale.

"He seems to be seeing images from the Upside Down — the question is whether they're real or not, Duffer explained. It seems Byers will be going through some kind of post-traumatic stress disorder.

Will's mother, Joyce (Winona Ryder), after going through the previous ordeal, will attempt to make things better for her sons, Will and Jonathan (Charlie Heaton). She will also be having a love interest when she starts dating her old high school friend, Bob (Sean Astin). Astin is known for "The Goonies" and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy.

Meanwhile, there will be two new characters coming this season. Billy (Dacre Montgomery) and Max (Sadie Sink) are a brother and sister duo who will weave into the lives of the young best friends Will, Dustin Henderson (Gaten Matarazzo), Lucas Sinclair (Caleb McLaughlin), Mike Wheeler (Finn Wolfhard) and Eleven (Millie Bobby Brown).

Max will become friends with the boys while Billy will be somewhat of a recluse and an antagonist to the group. Duffer commented, "Stephen King always has really great human villains. The evil in the real world is often as bad or worse than the supernatural evil, so we wanted to introduce a character like that."

"Stranger Things" season 2 returns on Friday, Oct. 27 on Netflix where all nine episodes will be available to stream.